chancellor merkel agreed. >> ( translated ): the 25th of may is not all that far away. should that not be possible to stabilize the situation, further sanctions will be unavoidable. this is something that we don't want. we have made a diplomatic offer, an offer for a diplomatic solution. so it's very much up to the russians which road we will embark on. >> brown: earlier, though, a spokesman for president putin declared ukraine's military actions today have nullified last month's agreement aimed at defusing the crisis. >> ( translated ): at present, we can regrettably say that those actions by the kiev authorities cancel out all geneva agreements. we appeal to the european capitals, to the united states of america, to give appropriate assessment of what is happening, >> brown: russia also called an emergency session of the united nations security council, where ukraine's representative sharply disputed moscow's claims. >> we reject all attempts of russia to blame the government of ukraine for allegedly failing to implement the agreements. and we state that, despite nume